Around the Farm takes a quick look at some of yesterday’s performances by Indians prospects throughout the system. The positions listed below are where the player was playing in yesterday’s game.

Daisuke Matsuzaka (Columbus, SP) - 2.1, 3 H, 3 R (all earned), 5 BB, 4 K - A rough home opening night for Dice-K in his second outing of the season. While this follows up an okay outing against the Indy Indians at Victory Field last week, the major concern is that he did not fare well in a second outing against the same team. Is his stuff circa 2013 limited enough that he is emininently hittable once a team has had a chance to see him once? If so, that does not bode anything good for his production at the AAA level as much of the Columbus schedule consists of playing Indy, Toledo, and Louisville over and over and over again. Also, the fact that his 58 pitches were evenly split between strikes and balls was not a good sign.

Chun Chen (Akron, DH) - 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 SB - Chen was en fuego last night, especially in the clutch. Between a two-RBI double in a key five-run 7th inning and an eventual game-winning two-out walk which started the Aeros scoring in the 10th, Chen was instrumental in the Akron 10-7, 10-inning win last night. Chun raised his batting average to .320 and picked up his fifth and sixth RBI of the year. While some home runs on the season stat line would be nice to see from a corner infielder it is a) early and b) Double-A, so it's not really fair to get concerned about the lack of homers yet.

Juan Diaz (Columbus,SS) - 2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI - His second good outing at the plate in a five-day (four-game) stretch. He needs to have them more often (batting .194 with a .500 OPS).

Giovanny Urshela (Akron, 3B) - 1-4, 2 R, 1 BB - Urshela is beginning to show some consistency at the plate, but we're still waiting on some multi-hit games and better power numbers to raise the stat line (batting .231 with a .555 OPS) to know that Gio has fully arrived at the AA level.

Matt Packer (Akron, SP) - 5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R (all earned), 3 BB - Better than his first outing, but still hoping for better as the season progresses.

Bryson Myles (Carolina, LF) - 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 K - Only one hit, but it was a three-run homer that was the difference in a 9-7 Mudcats win over the Winston-Salem Dash. Currently at two home runs and 11 RBI in only six games.

Jerrud Sabourin (Carolina, 1B) - 4-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K - A near-perfect night at the plate for the Mudcats first baseman to raise his batting average to .550.

Tony Wolters (Carolina, DH) - 3-5, 3 R, 1 2B, 1 K - After a rough start to the season, a second straight solid game at the plate for the middle infielder turned catcher.

Francisco Jimenez (Carolina, RP) - 0.2, 3 H, 3 R (2 earned), 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP - Francsisco's numbers take a big ding after this outing. It's early, but the qusetion is: who is the real Francisco Jimenez, the solid pitcher of his first outing or the total mess of this one (or somewhere in between)?

Robel Garcia (Lake County, 2B) - 1-3, 1 3B, 1 BB, 1 E - The good news: one of the few good offensive performances in an ugly night for the Captains. The bad news: part of the error-palooza that doomed their chance in this contest.

Erik Gonzalez (Lake County, SS) - 1-4, 1 RBI, 2 K, 2 E - See above, except that Erik was front and center in the blooper reel with two errors.

Ryan Merritt (Lake County, SP) - 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R (1 earned), 2 BB, 3 K, Balk - The very definition of "tough-luck loser." Four solid innings negated by a lack of run support and a complete breakdown of the defense behind him.

Francisco Valera (Lake County, RP) - 1 IP, 3 H, 5 R (1 earned), 1 K, 1 WP - While he didn't pitch as well as Merritt,, Valera was still more a victim of the seven men behind him than his own foibles on the mound.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!